OLIVER BIRD COLLABORATIVE CENTRE NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

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OLIVER BIRD COLLABORATIVE CENTRENEWCASTLE
UNIVERSITY
Oliver Bird Collaborative Centre in Newcastle In
2003 we were one of five Centres awarded a grant
from the Oliver Bird fund of the Nuffield
Foundation to establish a four year research
training programme for five Oliver Bird PhD
students. The Faculty of Medical Sciences in
Newcastle agreed to award another full
studentship and so we recruited six excellent
candidates to the Newcastle programme in October
2004. We appointed six Oliver Bird students in
2004 . . . . . where are they now?
Helen Baldwin arc Foundation Fellow working on
the chemokine decoy receptor D6 in RA with Gerry
Graham and Iain McInnes in Glasgow Jane
Falconer Research Assistant working with John
Robinson on antigen processing in Newcastle and
investigating post doctoral positions in high
profile fundamental immunology laboratories in
the USA Matthew Jefferson Post Doctoral Fellow
working with Loranne Agius in the Diabetes
Research Group in Newcastle investigating insulin
signalling George Kirmizidis Working in Brussels
as an EU Project Manager in musculoskeletal
research Jenny Lindop Post Doctoral Fellow
working with Mary Goldrings group in New York
focussing on cartilage breakdown in
osteoarthritis Amy Wilson arc Foundation Fellow
studying the role of a vascular marker on the
initiation and persistence of rheumatoid
arthritis working with Chris Buckley in
Birmingham
Research Themes The Oliver Bird Collaborative
Centre in Newcastle University consists of a
number of closely interrelated laboratories with
strong multidisciplinary basic science that
underpins the translation of mechanistic studies
into the clinical arena. Two main programmes of
work investigate the prevention and treatment of
joint inflammation and damage in the rheumatic
diseases. The programmes are
1 Mechanisms
of joint remodelling and repair. This
programme aims to discover the mechanisms of
cartilage and bone breakdown and repair in order
to develop new therapies that prevent
destruction in arthritis. It poses a series of
questions that relate to cellular,
biochemical and genetic approaches that
lead to specific hypotheses. 2
Autoimmunity dissecting mechanisms and
developing interventions. Laboratory
models show that it is possible to switch off
autoimmune diseases by targeting specific
molecules on T-cells or
antigen-presenting cells using antibodies or
receptor proteins. We study basic mechanisms and
translate this research to humans to
identify new therapeutic targets and to design
novel immunomodulators to treat patients
in phase I/II studies.
The Newcastle University Musculoskeletal Research
Group is located in the Medical School in the
Institute of Cellular Medicine. Members
collaborate with individuals from all Institutes
and strong links are maintained with clinicians
and patient cohorts.



OLIVER BIRD STUDENTS IN NEWCASTLE
2008-2012 Christopher Macdonald, Catherine
Syddall, Steven Woods
OLIVER BIRD STUDENTS IN NEWCASTLE
2009-2013 Andrew Butcher, Nicola Maney, David
Wilkinson
NEWCASTLE STAFF ACADEMIC Dr MA Birch, Dr F
Birrell, Prof TE Cawston, Prof HE Foster, Dr RM
Francis, Dr CMU Hilkens, Prof JD Isaacs, Dr D
Lilic, Prof AW McCaskie, Dr F Ng, Prof JH
Robinson, Prof AD Rowan, Prof J van Laar, Dr DA
Young CLINICAL NHS Dr P Cook, Dr M Friswell, Dr
B Griffiths, Dr L Kay, Dr P Peterson, Dr P Platt,
Dr D Walker